NTF 3 to follow from the weekend……

Well what a weekend of racing that was! Kauto Star jumping his younger rivals into the ground at Haydock eclipsed everything else and further cemented his legendary status in the National Hunt game. If the powers that be don’t take advantage of L’Extraterrestre’s heroics this weekend to promote our great sport to the wider world then they will be missing the greatest marketing gift they are likely to receive for a long long time.

Lest we forget, however, there was plenty of other action taking place over the weekend and here are just 3 horses that caught my eye –

A battling performance on seasonal debut from Jim Goldie’s 6yo hurdler and the ding-dong battle down the Haydock home-straight with the high class ANY GIVEN DAY was pleasing to watch. A strong field lined up for this Class 2 event but a majority of them struggled to lay a finger on the front-running WYSE HILL TEABAGS. His hurdling record to date reads 3-1-3-1-3-2 and on this performance (he recorded his best RPR to date and his best Proform speed figure) its safe to say he is still on the up and there is still more improvement to come. There is stamina in his pedigree and it will be interesting to see if Goldie steps him up in trip next time out as I would certainly be more interested in him going over 3 miles than I would be if he were to step back to 2 miles.

There was plenty of interest in this fella beforehand due to his debut bumper victory last December (an 8 length romp on the All-Weather at Southwell) and although carrying a penalty here against some eye-catching debutants he still ran a very solid race. He didn’t do his cause any good in the early stages by pulling hard so the fact he was still in there pitching when push came to shove was greatly encouraging. I imagine the freshness will have been blown away after that run and he looks an exciting recruit to the hurdling game, assuming that is his next stop.

One assumes the National is his seasonal target so one must also assume that connections had left plenty to work on going into this race. Judging by his tame finishing effort I can’t believe he was 100% wound up for this as he certainly would not have lacked for stamina and its not as if he was on an unfavourable handicap mark (far from it in-fact). He travelled and jumped supremely well here and for a moment turning for home he looked to have slipped the field, however, his effort petered out fairly quickly and this again brings me to the assumption he was far from ‘cherry ripe’ for this task; why would you be when the ultimate aim is the Aintree Grand Nationasl in April? For a 9yo the Presenting gelding is relatively lightly raced (this was only his 13th chase start) but we shouldn’t forget he is a Grade 2 winning animal from his novice days (over the Aintree Mildmay fences), he was running a huge race in last years National before tipping up 4 out and he is on a very favourable handicap mark (5lbs lower than the mark he ran off in last years National). It will be interesting to see how he is campaigned from now until April…….

What was your take on the weekends action?

Did any horses catch your eye and go in the notebooks?

Drop a comment below and let me know.

Happy Punting

Ben (NTF)

11 responses to “NTF 3 to follow from the weekend……”

In the Haydock Fixed Brush Handicap I thought SYNCHRONISED was outstanding in the finish also in the same race which was won extreamly well by DYNASTE, the other outstanding finish for me and one for the future was ACROSS THE BAY.

Could be a few interesting and profitable sorts that come from that race. Sa Suffit again caught my eye in that race, running well on ground that likely was just not quite soft enough for him. When the rain comes he will be winning again.

All wins to date of soft or heavy although that can be deceptive when its an Irish horse (Quito De La Roque springs to mind at Aintree last season). Did run poorly when he ran on good/yielding ground, however, I agree he has been impressive in his 2 Chase runs to date.

The day before(Friday 2.10, Ascot), I thought Cinders & Ashes was desperately unlucky not to have won, having all but came down 5 out. To get back in the race to lead over the last only to get run out by a Henderson beast and go down by a length was a terrific run all things considered.

Excellent shout Brian. He is on my to follow list (still available to Free subscribers) and I thought he put in a mighty performance given that Ted Spread tried to nobble him 5 from home. Murphy gave the horse plenty time to get back into his rhythm and the way Cinders&Ashes cruised back into contention was very impressive. He should be a big player for McCain this season, a big big player.

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